Rosemary, lemon and white chocolate cookies

I received the Flavour Thesaurus by Nicki Segnit for Christmas and I was thinking about making cookies with a savoury twist so I looked up flavour combinations with rosemary. We have lots of rosemary growing in the garden (I moved it to a new location yesterday – I hope it survives the move!) so I went and picked a bit and added it to these delicious cookies. No cookie would be complete without chocolate, and according to the flavour thesaurus, lemon goes with rosemary and chocolate – so that is how these cookies were born (with a little help from a Hummingbird bakery recipe, to form the basis of the cookie batter)!

Rosemary, lemon and white chocolate cookies

Makes 10–12 cookies


135 g unsalted butter
80 g caster sugar
80 g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
190 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
zest of half a lemon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100 g dried cranberries
70 g white chocolate chips
3 sprigs of rosemary (about the size pictured), finely chopped.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (325 degrees Farenheit) and line to baking trays with parchment or greaseproof paper. Cream together the butter and both sugars, then break in the egg, add the lemon zest and rosemary and mix well.

Sift together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda, then add to the creamed mixture in two batches, mixing thoroughly until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Break off pieces of the dough (about 2 tablespoons in size) and toll them into balls before placing them on the baking tray. Allow about six cookies per tray and space them as far apart as possible. Place in the oven and bake for 15–20 minutes until the cookies are a light golden on top. Leave on the sheet for about 10 minutes to cool and set (if you can resist it!) before transferring to a wire rack.